Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Huh, We Haven't Seen Much of Krakoa in the Dawn of X Comics Still

The big celebration on Krakoa when it was established as the new home of Mutants.

Josh Hilgenberg of the Comics Beat made a post today observing how all these new X-Men comics are about the X-men living on their own personal island-nation of Krakoa, but with little focus on the, "Living." We had the combination lead-in series, "House of X/Powers of X," that established the island for the mutants, but all comics since as part of the big launch of books under the banner, "Dawn of X," have had little focus on the island itself. That is a bit of a bummer. It is all about the island being invaded by an enemy here-and-there, the teams going to the rest of the World to fight other dangers or help mutants in need, going into space for fun, and other stuff. We have seen very little of what day-to-day life is actually like on Krakoa, the island-Nation mutants worked so hard for. It feels less like a real lived-in place than it does a way to move the plot forward.

Say what you will about the series, "District X," and how it was sometimes a bit wonky, it presented the story of an area of New York City where a bunch of mutants lived and it felt like a real place. Apartments, stores, and all that were in this place that seemed like a real district where mutants had gathered to live much how in cities you get certain demographics making an area a cultural hotbed. We got a feeling of a mutant culture and life in the city, as viewed through the eyes of mutant and non-mutant police trying to keep crime under control between uniquely mutant-affecting crimes and underground crime rings.

A mutant-focused nightclub in, "District X."

Then when reality was warped during "House of M," and the world temporarily was mostly mutants ("Mutopia X,"), it was interesting to see a flip-side where now the district was a grouping of what sapiens were left in NYC trying to make it in a World of mutants. The more things change the more they stay the same with someone always on top and someone always on the bottom.

"District X," felt like a real place in a city, Krakoa just feels like a storytelling tool right now. What do mutant residents of Krakoa do for work or fun? Is there a monetary currency, internet or television beyond how it is mentioned in one issue a cable hookup exists now to see what is going on in the outside world? Hopefully, as even more X-Men books keep coming out at least one or two will have a bit more fleshing-out take place of what life is like on Krakoa.